Wide-Column Stores

Wide-column stores are a type of database designed to handle large amounts of data efficiently. Unlike traditional relational databases that use tables with fixed columns, wide-column stores organize data into flexible structures called "column families." Each entry can have a different set of columns, making it easier to store varied data types. This design allows for quick data retrieval and is particularly suited for applications that require scalability, such as big data analytics and real-time processing. Examples include Google Bigtable and Apache Cassandra, which are often used in cloud computing and large-scale web applications.